Computers have become a ubiquitous tool in a modern office environment. However, users of these computers often do not have the technical knowledge and/or training necessary to remedy the myriad of system errors or malfunctions that can present themselves on a daily basis. Often, when a computer experiences a malfunction and the user is unable to resolve it, a call is made to an information technology (“IT”) technician for help, requiring a human-to-human interchange. In some instances, the IT technician is able to direct the user over a telephone how to remedy the malfunction. Yet, in many cases the IT technician must physically go to the malfunctioning computer to diagnosis the problem and remedy the malfunction. A remedy may be as simple as changing software settings in an application running on the computer to installing a new software or even a new firmware image on the computer.
In large office environments, office computers are often interconnected over a local area network (“LAN”) to a server. These office computers are referred to as client computers. The LAN and the client computers are often maintained by an in-house IT technician or IT group. It is the job of the IT group to diagnose and remedy malfunctioning client computers as quickly as possible. Client computer “downtime” equates to wasted user productivity. However, responding to the myriad of daily malfunctions in a large office environment can be a large task requiring many IT technicians. Using live IT technicians is inherently expensive and they are frequently in short supply, which all too often results in undue loss of user productivity.
To avoid such expenses, diagnostic facilities have been developed that enable an IT technician to obtain information about a malfunctioning computer, without requiring a physical presence at the malfunctioning computer. In the past, equipment manufacturers have employed network protocols such as Simple Network Management Protocol (“SNMP”) to perform remote system diagnostics. An IT technician can utilize SNMP-based software tools to query the status of the malfunctioning computer or to invoke a built-in diagnostic functionality of the client computer and monitor the test results remotely. However, this approach still requires an IT technician to over see the remedial process from a server computer. Additionally, if an operating system of the client computer has malfunctioned or “crashed” the SNMP-based software may not be capable of responding to status queries by the IT technician. Thus, in the case of a system crash, it may still be necessary for the IT technician to address the problem in person at the client computer.